A popular live music venue in Cornwall has revealed it "had no idea" a convicted sex offender had performed as a drag act during a ladies' night event.

Darren Sewell, from Wales, who performs under the stage name Crystal Couture, was included in a bill of acts at the St Austell Band Club event on August 18.

Following a recent performance in Cardiff, one person who was in the audience said he complained to staff and that several people walked out in disgust at the act, which he said included jokes about prolific child abuser Jimmy Savile, reported Wales Online.

In 1999, Sewell was convicted of four counts of rape of a boy under 16 and was sentenced to three years in a young offenders' institution.

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A man who saw Crystal Couture perform in Wales during the Pride weekend said: "I never realised it was him initially. So when he came on stage someone else in the audience said, 'do you know who that is?'."

He said he found articles reporting criminal proceedings against Sewell on his phone and made complaints to staff at the venue.

"Myself and the other people who I spoke to about it feel it's just giving such a bad message," he added.

"No laws (have been) broken but it's the morals towards the community. They are allowing sex offenders to promote us during Pride."

In a statement, representatives of Wow Bar confirmed that Sewell performed at the club on Sunday, August 26, under the stage name Crystal Couture.

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The statement read: "Mr Sewell, an established drag artist and singer, has performed at many venues within Cardiff and around the country and is in demand due to his high polished performance."

But, seemingly contradicting what the Cornish venue and agent said, it added: "The managers of all these venues have, like us, been made well aware that Mr Sewell was placed on the sex offenders list for a crime he committed in 1999.

"We know this as Mr Sewell has a legal obligation to inform any employer of this fact. Like most, and we would hope all venues do, we researched, we also talked to other venues that employed Mr Sewell.

"Aware Mr Sewell is on the sex offenders list we have always been cautious when booking Mr Sewell. He will always arrive late and preform (sic) late to ensure no risk of children present, we inform the police that he will be preforming at the venue and his act is carefully monitored by management.

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"With these measures in place and open communication to the police, we feel there to be no warranted risk to our customers; which will always be our top priority.

"Mr Sewell is a popular entertainer booked by hundreds of venues a year, all in full knowledge of his past crime and Sewell himself shamed on public media ever since but rightly or wrongly that is his on-going sentence.

"A customer on Sunday made his feelings known, showing us an article from Argus (sic). He left but for us, if not most, it is such a conversation to hold in a noisy nightclub at that time of night, the debate never being the crime but what an individual feels the punishment should be.

"Mr Sewell's crime from 1999 is well known to the Cardiff scene but the demand to see his show is still supported heavily.

"All venues in Cardiff or outside have had to sit down and make a choice, what we have all decided maybe judged wrong but our venue, no venue, would ever put anyone at risk."

Wales Online contacted Sewell for comment but never received a response. Cornwall Live has contacted Sewell for a comment but none has been provided.